546 GRAMINK.E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



branches densely spiked-clustered,^ linear (green and purplish) ; glumes aimless, sharp 

 pointed, unequal, the upper about the length of the very acute lower palea. 

 (Agi. Mexicana, L. A. lateriflora, Michx.) Varies with more slender pani- 

 cles (A. filifonnis, Muhl.) Low grounds; common. Aug. 



* * Lower palea bristle-awned from the tip : flowers short-pedicelled. 



4. M. sylvjitica, Torr. & Gr. Culms ascending, much branched and 

 diffusely spreading (2 -4 long); contracted panicles densely many-flowered; 

 glumes almost equal, bristle-pointed, nearly as long as the lower palea, which bears an 

 awn twice or thrice the length of the spikelet. (Agr. diffusa, Muhl.) Low or 

 rocky woods ; rather common. Aug., Sept. Aspect between No. 3 and No. 5. 



5. M, Willdenovii, Trin. Culms upright (3 high), slender, simple or 

 sparingly branched ; contracted panicle slender, loosely flowered ; glumes slightly 

 unequal, short-pointed, half the length of the lower palea, which bears an awn 3-4 

 times the length of the spikelet. (Agr. tenuiflora, Willd.) Rocky woods; 

 rather common. Aug. 



6. M. cliflusa, Schreber. (DROP-SEED. NIMBLE WILL.) Culms dif- 

 fusely much branched (8' -18' high) ; contracted panicles slender, rather loosely 

 many-flowered, terminal and lateral ; glumes extremely minute, the lower obsolete, 

 the upper truncate ; awn once or twice longer than the palea. (Dilepyrum 

 minutiflorum, Michx.) Dry hills and woods, from S. New England to Michi- 

 gan, Illinois, and southward. Aug., Sept. Spikelets much smaller than in the 

 foregoing, 1" long. 



$ 2. TEICH6CHLOA, DC. Panicle very loose and open, the long branches and 

 pedicels capillary : leaves narrow, often convolute-bristle-form. 



7. M. capillaris, Kunth. (HAIR-GRASS.) Culm simple, upright (2 

 high) from a fibrous (perennial 1 ?) root; panicle capillary, expanding (6'-20 / 

 long, purple) ; glumes unequal, J to ^ the length of the long-awned paleae, the 

 lower mostly pointless, the upper more or less bristle-pointed. Sandy soil, W. 

 New England to New Jersey, Kentucky, and southward. Aug. Pedicels 1' 

 2' long, scarcely thicker than the awns, which are about 1' long. 



11. BRACHYEL.YTRUM, Beauv. BEACH YELYTEUM. 



Spikelets 1 -flowered, with a conspicuous filiform pedicel of an abortive second 

 flower about half its length, nearly terete, few, in a simple appressed racemed 

 panicle. Lower glume obsolete ; the upper minute, pointless, persistent, shorter 

 than the width of the thick stalk of the flower. Paleae chartaceo-herbaceous, in- 

 volute, enclosing the linear-oblong grain, somewhat equal, rough with scattered 

 short bristles ; the lower 5-nerved, contracted at the apex into a long straight 

 awn ; the upper 2-pointed ; the awn-like sterile pedicel partly lodged in the groove 

 on its back. Stamens 2 : anthers and stigmas very long. A perennial grass, with 

 simple culms (l-3 high) from creeping rootstocks, downy sheaths, broad and 

 flat lanceolate pointed leaves, and large spikelets ' long without the awn. (Name 

 composed of /Spa^us, short, and eXvrpov, husk, from the very short glumes.) 



1. li. aristatuiii, Beauv. (Muhlenbergia erecta, Schreb. Dilepjrrum 

 fllistosum, Michx.) Eocky woods; rather common. June. 



